1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to locks and keys used in an electric power system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a novel interchangeable lock core that enables the opening of various locks using a single smart key.
2. Related Art
Modern electric power plants or transmission substations often involve many different types of locks. Some locks are used to control access, such as locks used on gates or cabinet doors, and some locked are used for interlocking, such as locks used on knife switches or ground wires. These many locks require the management of many corresponding keys, which is tedious and prone to human error.
In a substation, a conventional approach for key management involves a centralized key cabinet, which stores the various types of physical mechanical keys for the various locks. Before a field staff member can perform a switching operation, he needs to access the key cabinet and retrieve the appropriate mechanical keys. Because of the large number of the keys in the key cabinet (such as tens or even hundreds), manual retrieval of keys may result in errors. For example, the field staff member may miss a key or retrieve the wrong key, thus causing delays in the switching operation. Statistics show that the key retrieval accounts for nearly 10% of the total time necessary for the completion of the switching operation.